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“I want to be in the arena. I want to be brave with my life. And when we make the choice to dare greatly, we sign up to get our asses kicked. We can choose courage or we can choose comfort, but we can’t have both. Not at the same time. Vulnerability is not winning or losing; it’s having the courage to show up and be seen when we have no control over the outcome. Vulnerability is not weakness; it’s our greatest measure of courage.”

Brenee Brown, Rising Strong: the Reckoning, the Rumble, the Revolution

Vulnerability is not prized in a world where we seek to protect ourselves from criticism, where our political leaders cannot admit their mistakes having confused honesty with weakness, or cannot be humble for fear of seeming less than all-powerful. Those with courage can admit their mistakes, learn and grow. Likewise those with a courageous faith can be honest that they do not have all the answers, sometimes get things wrong, and recognize that there is much which is beyond their control.

Scripture

(God) said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness.’ So, I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me. Therefore I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities for the sake of Christ; for whenever I am weak, then I am strong.

2 Corinthians 12.9-10